Missing Reuters Journalists Released After Being Detained in Syria for Two Days

The two Reuters television journalists who have been missing in Syria since Saturday were released by Syrian authorities on Monday, Reuters reports. The journalists, Beirut-based producer Ayat Basma and cameraman Ezzat Baltaji, traveled to Syria to cover the mass protests there on Thursday, but Reuters lost contact with the two on Saturday.

Reuters has not given out much information so far as to what happened to the journalists during the two days, only that a Syrian official said the journalists were detained and questioned because they did not have a permit to work in Syria and had filmed “in an area where filming is not permitted.” Both Basma and Baltaji have since returned to their home base in Lebanon and said they were well.

“Reuters is concerned that its journalists were detained and held incommunicado for so long. We are delighted by their release,” Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen Adler said.